1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to torque limiters, and particularly to a torque limiter used in an automatic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A torque limiter, named also as an overload clutch or a safety coupling, interconnects an input shaft and an output shaft. When encountering or receiving an overloaded amount of torque, the torque limiter disconnects the input shaft and the output shaft, such that a driving source and a driven load are protected from damaged by the torque overload.
A typical friction-style torque limiter includes a housing, a transmission shaft connected to a driving source, and an output shaft connected to a driven load. A plurality of friction plates are mounted on the transmission shaft and the output shaft, and are received in the housing. The friction plates on the transmission shaft are resisted between the friction plates on the output shaft and a pressing plate. The pressing plate is rotated by the transmission shaft. When the output shaft is overloaded by an amount of torque, the friction plates on the transmission shaft slip relative to the friction plates on the output shaft and the pressing plate, such that the driving source and the driven load are protected from damaged by the torque overload. However, the friction plates may be worn down from usage, so that a predetermined torque overload value is reduced, and is needed to be adjusted.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.